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Old 10-03-2006, 10:27 PM
Larrin Larrin is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 278
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drac
Now my head is really spinning. A bit afraid to try with people going back and forth

I'll just have to give it a try and hope, but its all part of the learning curve.

Ray, I really appreciate your help. I am very nervous about the cost of the steel verses my inexperience. I do work mostly in CPM steels with plate quench and forced air (usual from a can), that's why I don't know much about the oil quenching or carbon steels. Sorry about the confusion.

Larrin, Devin mentioned that but I'm still learning how to grind properly and I have gotten warping when I water quenched previous blades.

Thanks for jumping in and helping all,
Jim
If you have experience with plate quenching CPM steels, then heat treating the stainless damascus should be no problem, just heat treat like normal, and use the right temperatures. You're getting nervous about nothing.

Oh, and for finishing, 400 grit is fine like it says on the website. The coarser the finish, the darker the etch, the finer the finish, the shinier the bright layers will be. The best way to get the best of both is to get a 400 grit belt finish, then etch in Ferric Chloride, then hand rub with something like 600 grit sandpaper to brighten up the 302 (bright layers), then go back in, etc. until you get what you want.

Damasteel is way more difficult to etch. You rarely see anyone with a good dark/bright contrast. Even guys that use a lot of it usually etch deep and get a light grey on the dark layers at best.

Water quenching in the foil can cause problems if you're inexperienced in any of several different areas of grinding and/or heat treating, which is probably why we don't recommend it in our literature. There are also several heat treating myths that can screw it up also, like poking a hole in the foil, or putting paper (or kerosene, etc.) in the foil. If you're getting good results with plate quenching, however, there's no reason to change now.
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